What Makes a Hero
by SneaselXRiolu
Summary: A question that has plagued him. Would he wake up one morning and finally come out to his father that he wanted to be a hero? Would he be able to wear a mask? Would he be able to run away? Regardless... He had always wanted to be a hero. And I've always found him to be fascinating. Perhaps if we work together... we can both get what we want... (Heroic!T.K.O.! AU, Dendy perspective)
1. Intrigue

Dendy had found herself intrigued with him. The son of ex-hero turned villain, Laserblast, and deceased hero of Silverspark. His mane of hair was wild, and his eyes dark violet. He wore minimal, a simple white muscle shirt and black shorts. His teeth were unusually sharp for a human and he emitted an air of resentment around him. She just had to know more.

She followed him to what appeared to be his workplace. The only place that employed Laserblast and Mr. Gar after their turn to evil. Doc. Venemous's Plaza. She continued to follow the boy, who was named T.K.O. to the place, and he walked into Mr. Gar's bodega.

She knew that Laserblast and Mr. Gar had a bad history together, and wondered why T.K.O. would go there, before realizing that it was really a good store. It advertised to get a lot of different things, sort of like a gas station in a poor town. She followed in, trying not to look suspicious as she saw him greet the two villains working there, Radacles the Alien and Enid the Werepire, with a subtle hand wave.

This perturbed Dendy, as T.K.O. acted like the typical, aloof, bad boy stereotype, and he seemed sad when the other coworkers didn't respond. Dendy thought back to his strange behaviors in class, and she remembered a particularly vivid moment.

* * *

 _The class had been stranded for a field trip since the bus broke down. All the children were sad, because they couldn't go to…wherever they were going, Dendy didn't really remember. But T.K.O. seemed different. He kept away from the students, as usual, but when the tow truck came, his eyes lit up and danced with excitement. It was as if he admired that someone had a job like that, and Dendy hadn't thought much of it except possibly her mind wandering._

* * *

Until now.

She walked up to T.K.O., who seemed to be a janitor at Gar's Bodega. He washed the floor methodically, almost as if he was trying to act less enthused than he was. She was able to tell, because she liked to watch people. Little nuances that made them tick, whether happy or mad. She hadn't expected T.K.O. to have something like this. When no one was watching she snuck around to try and get near him.

He caught on quickly, looking around for her. "Okay, whoever you are…" He growled. "I don't know who you are…but prepare to meet my, 'whoever you are destroyer fist!'" He announced, a purple electrical energy flaring around his fist.

It was calm for a moment…and T.K.O let out a sigh. He turned around.

"Finally." Dendy said, managing to spook him enough that he fell backwards.

"Who are you?" He asked, his snaggletooth baring.

"I am Dendy."


	2. Quest

"I sit behind you in class." Dendy explained as the two walked outside of the bodega. T.K.O. had "gotten off" because his job was "Helper," and as a part of Doc. Venomous's plaza, he had to help everyone that came to the plaza. He was thankful to still be paid as he followed the girl around the plaza. "I've noticed things that usually villain's never care about come into your radar."

He flinched a tiny bit and Dendy continued, "I also know that your father is the prestigious ex-hero Laserblast."

He stopped in his tracks. "Anything else, you stalker?"

"I'm not a stalker, just a scientist looking for something new to investigate, and I've noticed that you wish to bond with your villainous coworkers even when they won't spare you a passing glance. And I think I know why."

He gulped.

"You wish to have friendships like a normal creature in childhood, but are held to far higher expectations by your father."

He let out a sigh of relief.

"And…let me tell you…I have no friends of my own as well, so I thought that this way I could get someone to 'help me.'"

T.K.O. felt those words stir in his heart. He had wanted to help people, he never could let anyone know that but…she was…much strange and slightly more polite about it. "Tch. Yeah, sure, I'll help you I guess." He sighed.

"Let us proceed." She said, taking off her backpack.

"What, you got your quest list in your backpack?"

"This is no ordinary backpack," she told him, revealing a strange device. "I use it to allocate code blocks for the purpose of manipulating real-world objects."

"So, what, you play Cob with that thing?"

"More of, hack my way into changing the world around me for the better."

"Yeah, playing Cob."

Dendy rolled her eyes. "Now, listen, I need your help to gather three things to help me fix it, as it is broken."

"Alright, I'm sure you could find them all in the bodega-"

"Already hacked and checked your stocks. You do not have what I am looking for."

"What are ya lookin' for?"

"The first thing is a dilation circuit." She presented.

"Hmph. That's on top of the plaza roof. Here, let me show ya." He stamped up and floated to the ledge. "What, can you not get up here?"

"One second!" Dendy charged her feet, and made a bound upwards,grabbing her boots in the process and putting them back on.

"Sick." T.K.O. told her.

"I am quite healthy."

"No. I mean- Nevermind." T.K.O. muttered.

"So, there is a lot of dilation circuits up here, but will I find one in the right size?"

"You should." T.K.O. growled as he fiddled with something in his jacket pocket.

Dendy did, and procured the piece carefully. "The second item we need is a copper pewter alloy, preferably in disc form."

"Huh. Well, if you got a .25 techno disc, I know where to get the thing." T.K.O. shrugged. "The arcade is usually not getting that much business except for villains though."

Dendy thought for a moment. It would be much easier to get in if she had a villain with her, especially considering the villain's policy on attacking heroes. "Could you protect me?"

T.K.O. nearly choked on air. "Wh-what?"

"Could you protect me?" Dendy asked again. "I'm not very strong, and I'm a sure target for them to gang up on me. I know Doc. Venomous enjoys seeing the fights and never stops them."

T.K.O. paused, feeling his blood rush to his face. "Ugh. Fine. Only cause I don't want to go back to the bodega. Too stuffy."

Dendy giggled with triumph.

* * *

The two walked into the arcade and Dendy looked around at the villain's who were giving her hateful glances. While not one for emotion, Dendy felt fear claw at her spine and she followed closely with T.K.O., making sure not to be too close and keeping in step with him.

T.K.O. just kept onward, looking for the token machine. When he found it, he made a quicker beeline for it, causing Dendy to go a bit faster.

"Alright, we're just .25 technos away from getting your computer disc whatchamacallit. Let me just-" He searched his right pocket, and found nothing and he turned his inside of his left pocket out. There were two moths that came out. He looked surprised. "Uh…gimme a sec, nerd. Stay put." He said, walking away.

Dendy couldn't stay put though. She felt so many eyes watching her. Like hungry hyenas finding an injured gazelle in the savannah. She ran to behind the token machine, and looked at the wiring. _Hmm, faulty. If I just…rewire this…_ she followed her mind's blueprints and got the token machine to spill.

"Gotcha, ya little scamp!" T.K.O. grinned at the caught moth and then looked back to the token machine, which now villains were gathering and pocketing the tokens.

Dendy tried to sneakily grab one, until a villain spotted her.

"Hey everyone!" The villain triumphantly showed her off. "This kid just got us free games!"

"Haha! Noice!"

"I can't wait!"

The villain looked back at Dendy, who seemed frightened. "Well, go on kid! Take as many as you like!"

Dendy gulped, and looked down as she grabbed a single token.

"Haha! What's with that look? C'mon, there's gotta be more that you want!"

"I…er-"

T.K.O. didn't think as the words left his mouth. "Hey! Science Baby! You comin' or what!?"

Dendy felt warm at the nickname and she quickly went to T.K.O., pocketing the needed copper pewter alloy disc.

The two walked out with T.K.O. having his arm around her shoulders and keeping her close to him. The two walked out and away from the arcade, not breaking a part.

"What's the last thing?" T.K.O. asked.

"Hmm? Oh, right! Yes! The last item I need is a glorb." She showed what seemed to be a white, nonliving gloop. "I know that there is a roboto barber around here, so we can just extract it by force-"

"No!"

Dendy looked at T.K.O. quizzically, and he flinched, almost as if he expected a hit to come from her. "No?"

T.K.O. took a bit to find his voice. "U-uh…y-yeah…you can't hurt Mr. Logic, he's like…everyone's barber. Society can't exist if like, everyone's bumping into everything they see because their hair's so long!" He explained with a laugh. To demonstrate, he made his hair fall in front of his face and walked away from Dendy, running into a pole and falling.

Dendy giggled, and that caused T.K.O. to giggle a bit too. She then realized something. "Wait, then how do I get a glorb without a robot?"

"Oh, Boxmore sends in their robots for testing against those who work at Gar's. We're constantly smashing them up and throwing them in the alley, but I'm sure one of them could still have a glorb."

"Hm. Very well. To the alloy!"

"Alley."

"To the alley!" They began to walk and Dendy readjusted her backpack. "This is not the first time a glorb has destabilized my rig's dilation circuit."

T.K.O. nodded absent-mindedly, pretending to know what that meant.

"You know how it is with power cells!" Dendy laughed.

"Uh, yeah, power cells. That's like…a battery?"

"Precisely! It's the last thing I need to restore the backpack to its former glory! Once we retrieve one, that'll be it!"

T.K.O. stopped and leaned in. "But, Dendy, how can that be it…" He poked her in the chest. "When _you're_ it?"

She didn't seem to get it.

"You're supposed to tag me back."

"Oh." Dendy gingerly brought her hand out to try and tag T.K.O., but he leaned away with a giggle. Dendy caught on, and began to chase after him as he ran from her. She caught up quickly and tagged him on the back. He looked back with a boyish grin. "You're it!" She ran around his right flank to try and make a lap around the plaza, and T.K.O. chased after her, laughing.

"You're faster than you look!" He shouted.

"This game is more fun than it looks!"

"Well, that's good, cause-" He jumped into the air, "you're it!" He said as he tagged her and got in front of her.

"Not for long!" Dendy called and stopped.

T.K.O. looked ahead, and didn't stop in time. He ran into the fence.

He felt a light tap, and there was Dendy, next to him. He giggled and soon Dendy joined in as he tried to get himself down.

Dendy gasped. "I have forgotten about our task. That is very unlike me. Anyway, glorbs are commonly-"

"Found one!" T.K.O. announced, presenting a glowing orb that was attached to a fish like machine. He climbed over the fence while she was monologuing.

Dendy opened the gate to let herself in. "While that is quite the glowing orb, that is not a glorb." She told him.

"How can you tell?"

"Glorbs are found inside of robots. This one seems to be using it externally." She told him as he fiddled with the wire.

The junk fish opened its maw and tried to chomp down on T.K.O. He dodged and growled in triumph. "Hah! NO way would you be able to get the drop on me! You'd have to get up pretty earl-eeeeee!" The junk fish reeled him in and practically ate him.

Dendy looked with curiosity. "Not what I was expecting, but effective." She brought up her screens.

"Don't worry Dendy!" T.K.O. announced. "I'll get the glorb out of this bot!" He punched the wall with the fist that still had the orb. It simply cracked and exploded. He reeled back from the impact before growling. "Okay…let's see how tough you are without it!" He began to fight inside the robot as Dendy recorded his status.

Determination: Subject appears to be aloof, and is unclear about this, though seems to embrace situations with even the slightest statistical likelihood of success.

Hobbies: Fighting, helping others, "tag" game.

Problem-Solving: Subject displays a tendency to fixate on and exhaust a single method of solving a problem rather than seeking novel approaches.

Mortality: No data.

She scrolled.

Reflexes: Response to physical stimuli are more expedient than others.

Temperament: While appearing aloof similar to his coworkers, he seems to still cling on to what some would call vestiges of childhood, which he should embrace given his age.

Agency: Subject is quick to act, and constantly needs external validation.

Self-Preservation: Subject appears to embrace danger openly. Subject may be compensating for conspicuous lack of maternal figure and neglectful father figure by placing himself in dangerous situations, hoping to prove either worthy of love or capable of himself.

Another scroll until she reached the top.

Subject Name: Turbo K.O.

Hair Color: Dark brown

Eye Color: Dark violet

POW Level: 0

Occupation: Student/Part-Time Helper

Known Allies: Laserblast (Father(questionable))

Birthday: No data

Blood Type: O

Pain Tolerance: High

Body Fat Percentile: No Data

GPA: No Data.

* * *

The experimentation went into the night, with T.K.O. still in the fish and punching his way.

Dendy heard a bone crack, followed by a pained screech.

"I-I-I-I…I guess my dad was right…I belong in the trash…" T.K.O. sobbed. "Can you type up documents on your screen thing?"

"Oh, that can be managed." Dendy said, typing.

"Can you take my last will and testament?"

Dendy looked to the gate, and saw no one was coming. "Proceed."

"To Rad: I leave my action figures. To Enid: I leave my video games. They should split my piggy bank, for college… It's only fair Dad gets my- my comic books. As for my POW Cards-"

"You collect POW Cards?!"

"Y-yeah! Er. I used to. Before my life as a trash boy began."

Dendy collapsed her screen. "I. Love. POW CARDS! Have you seen the next Ted Viking card with battle damage? It's so cool! I have doubles!"

"No! If we hadn't come here to fix your backpack, we could've traded."

Dendy looked to her backpack. "I think we _will_ be able to trade."

"Maybe. If you can get this thing to open." T.K.O. began to ramble as Dendy attached her wire to the fish.

"If junk fish contains child, then barf!" Dendy declared.

The junk fish was overrided and barfed out T.K.O.

He groaned before realizing what happened. "I'm free!" T.K.O. declared. He then saw the wire. "Woah! Ya fixed your backpack! Guess you didn't need that glorb then, huh?"

"T.K.O…my backpack was never broken."

"Oh, well, glorb or no glorb, problem solved!"

Dendy blushed. Was he serious, just forgiving her like that?

"You slap it!"

Dendy came back to her senses and realized T.K.O. outstretched his hand. "It's just that…rather, I…mmm!"

"It's easy, you just take your hand-"

"You aren't understanding! I was interested in you as a specimen. The backpack quest was a ruse I engineered to study you in a variety of shared experiences."

"Wait…you just wanted to hang out with me?"

Dendy put her hand over her mouth sheepishly. "Correct."

T.K.O. laughed. "If you wanted to hang out, you could've just asked!"

"Oh."

"It might have been for a fake quest, but I still had a lot of fun. Plus, I made a new friend. That part's real, right?"

Dendy blushed. "I— I would not have made such an error had I known of our common interests."

T.K.O. smiled at her, which she returned.

Dendy then gasped and pulled up his stats, which T.K.O. looked to. "Wait, so you do stalk me?"

"Everyone has their own page." Dendy explained. Next to Allies, she added: "Dendy (self)."

The two smiled at each other, before T.K.O. poked her. "You're it!" He declared.


	3. The Start of Something Good

It was clear to Dendy that T.K.O. didn't have many friends. How could he? Most children at this age were going to be heroes, and the villain kids were too intimidated by T.K.O.'s past to feel like they could associate themselves with him. Which was a shame, because there was more to T.K.O. than met the eye. He confided that he had really never had any friends, and on his YouTube channel, he made very few videos. Dendy was getting ready for bed when T.K.O. called her. Excited, she picked up right away. "Greetings T.K.O." Dendy said.

"Hey." He whispered. "Try not to be loud. My dad would kill me if I made friends with a hero."

Dendy had told him she was drawn more towards using science for good, but because she was his only friend, he decided to accept it. "Oh, alright." Dendy laid on her stomach as she talked to T.K.O. "What happened at work today?"

"Well, we had to go to the back of the store to get some shaving cream, and Rad tried to take the lead. Unfortunately, Enid also tried and they ended up getting into an argument, eventually trying to pin me on one of them. They left me alone with a mimic."

"And what happened?"

"I had to deal with it and knock a few away from those two. I then reminded them that we had a job to do, and it was to not get eaten by mimics." He giggled on the other side, signaling to Dendy that it was a joke, so she laughed too. "Enid, Rad, and I eventually actually tried talking to each other, and…I think I'm actually starting to get through to them. Like, I think they're realizing that just because they're villains, doesn't mean they have to be jerks…"

"That is wonderful T.K.O.!" Dendy cheered. "And what of the customer?"

"Oh, I grabbed a bottle of the shaving cream from the back before we left. Rad and Enid were about to argue again when we made the exchange for money and product. So overall, today's workday was pretty good!"

"And what of our homework?"

T.K.O. stayed silent for a moment, before cursing under his breath. "Can you help me with it tomorrow, Dendy?"

"Of course I can!" Dendy declared.

"Thanks! You're the best!"


	4. Trouble

"I said I'm fine, okay!?"

"T.K.O., you are not fine!"

Their first fight as friends. T.K.O. had come to school with a black eye and a long sleeved shirt with a red star spray painted on it. The wiccan symbol of protection. Dendy had noticed he was not in his usual attire and when she went to see him, saw his swollen eye. When she questioned it, he flinched before trying to cover it up, saying that he was fine.

"I just got this from fighting, okay?"

"No! Not okay! T.K.O., you are my friend. I want to make sure that you are healthy! Not getting hurt and trying to not take care of yourself!"

T.K.O. was surprised. Dendy had become his first friend, so he clearly still was not used to her presence, and her will to take care of him. He looked away, trying to find his words. "Chameleon Jr." He growled.

"What?" Dendy asked.

"I got in a fight with Chameleon Jr. and his gang. I ended up getting punched in the face."

Dendy felt her heart slightly break. T.K.O. was her first friend too, so of course she'd have a feeling to want to bond and take care of him. "But why would you fight them all?"

"Chameleon Jr. was makin' fun of me. I couldn't decide what I wanted for lunch so he starts calling me slow! And of course, I'm not slow! So while he was laughin' I punched him in the jaw! Hid buddies didn't like that, so they start punching me on my arm. 'Course, I was able to take care of them better than they were able to hurt me."

"But you still got hurt." Dendy sighed.

"Well…only a few bruises on my arms."

"And your black eye."

T.K.O. sighed. "Yeah and…Yeah, my eye." He covered it gingerly.

Dendy thought for a moment. "I _do_ have a first aid kit in my hack pack. We can use it to patch you up at the very least."

T.K.O. eyed her cautiously, as if not sure whether to trust Dendy or not.

"Here, let me see your arm." Dendy tried to grab T.K.O.'s wrist before he tore it away. Looking at his arm, then back to her, he looked back and rolled up his sleeve, revealing bruises along it. Different sizes, colors, and pain as Dendy gingerly touched a few and saw him flinch. She brought out some gauze bandages and pain relief cream. Softly, she rubbed it into his skin and began to wrap up his arm. "Does your dad know about the fight?"

T.K.O. gulped roughly. "Uh…yeah."

"Why didn't he take care of it?"

"Uhm…h-he told me 'Pain leads to discipline,' and 'take care of those yourself, cause in this world no one's gonna help you.'"

Dendy frowned at this. "I'll help you T.K.O." She told him. "Even if you're a villain, and I'm a hero. I'll be there for you."

T.K.O.'s eyes widened at this information. Who knew friends could help so much?


	5. Calling the Doctor

TKO sobbed as Dendy analyzed the statue of Enid. Apparently she was transformed into it? It was a marvelous discovery.T.K.O. paced back and forth in front of the Enid made of stone as Dendy tapped into it. "Thanks for coming again Dendy," he told her. "It's just. No else understood that Enid was turned to stone! Not Mr. Gar, not Rad, not even Doc. Venomous! I just knew I could count on my friend to get to the bottom of this!"

Dendy smiled at T.K.O. "It is my pleasure, T.K.O. I will metaphorically leave no stone unturned."

T.K.O. let out a bark of laughter. "And literally, too, right?"

Dendy looked at him quizzically, before her hack pack made a beeping noise. "Oh! The results are printing!"

T.K.O. looked eagerly to them, before giving his own quizzical look at what appeared to be binary.

Dendy could read it though. "It appears the statue is made from steatite."

"What?"

"Otherwise known as soapstone. Commonly used by novice sculptors to practice carving because of its relative softness."

"No! I didn't want to know what kinda rock, I wanted to know was how to get Enid back!"

Dendy looked to the young woman. She seemed to be in a cloak to hide herself in the shadows, and had long vampiric fangs as the statue wore sunglasses. "I…haven't really tried that before…though…I suppose I could start the coding for organic transmutation…"

"Yeah!"

"But it could take months, maybe even a year or two."

"A year or two? But I need Enid back now! No one else may get her…but I want to…"

Dendy felt a spike of something sour but couldn't quite place. She stood up. "T.K.O., I really do want to help you, but I don't know how to comfort you, or how to turn Enid back…" She rested a hand on his shoulder, and he looked at her with teary eyes. "I'll talk to you tonight, okay? If Enid hasn't turned back by then, we'll ditch school and try and find out who did this and if they can change her back, okay?"

T.K.O. snivled. "Okay…"

Dendy began to walk home when she was caught off guard by some of the villain kids. Specifically, the Kid Chameleon Gang. She was about to run in fear when one of them stopped her. "Hey, what's the rush?" He asked.

"Yeah, we want you to do us a favor." The burly one added, closing in on the kappa.

"Wh-what do you need?" Dendy asked.

"Tokenssssss…" The female hissed.

"We need to get the latest game system from the arcade, and we know that you have the tokens, so cough 'em up." Chameleon Jr. leered.

"W-wait…I don't have tokens…but…but I have something better."

* * *

She didn't let the kids know her trick, but she got them the tokens that they needed. "Haha! Thanks kid!" One of them chortled as they gathered up the coins, making sure no one else got near. With that out of the way, Dendy thought she was in the clear, until she was stopped by the alien that worked at the bodega.

"Hey, Dendy, right? I saw you messing with Enid earlier today."

"I…erm…I was messing with a statue."

Rad snorted. "Okay, I know you were in the bodega, but did you see where T.K.O. and Enid went? Mr. Gar has been calling me non-stop to try and get me to do my work while I play Hooky." He gestured back to a fishing game, with the grand prize being a 1,000 techno bill.

In that short time Dendy clammed up. Rad was quite the looker. Kind of like the princes from those movies that end up in the sewers that Dendy enjoys from time to time. Usually on family movie nights.

"So you don't know where Enid and T.K.O. went at all?"

Dendy shook her head.

"Can you talk?" He growled.

Dendy gulped. "Yes." She answered hoarsely, her teeth pained from how she had subconsciously tightened her teeth by biting down on them.

"And you don't know where those slackers went to." Rad relayed.

"No, and I do believe Enid in particular wouldn't be going anywhere, seeing as she is a statue."

"What?" The alien bared his lower fangs. "Geez, listen, Dendy, T.K.O.'s."

Soon there was shouting outside. Rad and Dendy ran out to see T.K.O. chasing after a dark wizard, flying the air.

"I see." Mr. Gar said gruffly. "Playing hooky to go galavanting with a wizard, eh? Reminds me of my schoolboy days."

"I don't get any of y'all." Rad shrugged.

The wizard kept blasting spells at T.K.O. who expertly dodged them until a spell summoned a herd of cattle to stampede towards him. Dendy felt fear twinge and for a moment she thought he was a goner, but he bolted up and glared at the place the wizard once was. The doors to the dojo swung open and T.K.O. felt a twinge of fear. Sure enough the wizard was seeking refuge there. So the wizard was going to get smacked around by Laserblast, then why did T.K.O. look like _he_ was the one that was going to face Laserblast?

There was a shout of rage and Laserblast kicked the wizard out. T.K.O. seemed to perk up before Laserblast glared at him. Laserblast marched over to his son and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. He growled lowly to him before Enid broke out and ran over. "Hey! Stop that! He was just trying to help!" Enid shouted, and Dendy nearly ran up to join her before the ground cracked. Out stepped Doc. Venomous walking over to Laserblast, who was snarling at Enid while still holding T.K.O. in a painful manner.

"Now now Laserblast," Doc. Venomous rested his hand on the other shoulder of Laserblast. This got the man to set his son down, who ran to hide behind Enid. The two seemed to speak without saying words, and Laserblast's palpable anger seemed to extinguish.

With that, it seemed everyone was able to go back on their merry way.

* * *

That night, T.K.O.'s phone went straight to voicemail.


	6. He is Rad?

Dendy had almost been adopted as the little pet of the Chameleon Gang. Getting them tokens as they saved up their tickets and bullied other people. It was a good thing that others only viewed Dendy as being intimidated to do their dirty work, and when T.K.O. was around, the Chameleon Gang wouldn't approach her, mainly due to how T.K.O. had asserted himself to them in their fight and how he had given the nickname "Science Baby" to Dendy and would refer to her as that when they were around and the lizards would begrudgingly glare at the humans. Dendy still hadn't talked about how she was a kappa.

Today, however, Dendy was getting the Chameleon's more tokens when she heard laughter of Rad's friends and nervous chukling of T.K.O. . She got the wires there and back, before quickly walking away from the Gang, mumbling out her "you're welcome" as she made her way around to spy on the group that just came in. Two villains, Mega Football Baby and Bell Beefer, who were in their teens were slapping T.K.O. on the back, and T.K.O. had straws in his hair that stood like Rad's antennae. _Well, that's queer. Why would T.K.O. have straws in his hair?_

It wasn't the fact that the villains were near him, oh no. Villains would constantly ask T.K.O. questions about his dad when he wasn't working or at school, usually at times when he was held up from hanging out with Dendy. It was that strange little accent to his outfit that just did not fit with his character, especially since they were a contrasting white to his typical purple and black. And, of course, the scientist needed answers.

T.K.O. and Bell Beefer made their way over to the Air Hockey table and started the game, with Dendy bringing up her screens to analyze how T.K.O. was acting. He seemed to take on a different persona, and she analyzed this. Could it be that because of making friends with herself and then gaining a protective Enid to defend him from his father that he had decided to hang out at the arcade and show off his more extroverted nature, and his phone died instead of him turning it off? That would have made it much better than what Dendy thought happened last night. But she wouldn't go into that. T.K.O. didn't need that in his life from the fear that he had from his father.

T.K.O. blocked his goal and seemed to put in a fraction amount of joules to push the puck in a slightly opposite direction, and of course the air kept it going at the speed. He then ran to the basketball game and began shooting hoops at a very high speed, his powers seeming to kick in. Now, Dendy wasn't familiar with his powers, but this made her begin programming a scanner app to apply to her "hackpack," so she could keep track of his spikes. As far as she knew, she wasn't aware of a new youth villain pack coming out for wide release so she didn't know if T.K.O. had a POW Card or not.

He successfully won both games and Mega Football Baby cried while Bell Beefer got slimed from the game. A young woman by the name of Drupe walked up to T.K.O. and began talking to him. Dendy couldn't tell what Drupe was saying as Dendy was too busy recording what she had just saw, but soon Mega Football Baby came up to T.K.O., calling him "Rad."

Rad? As in Radicles? The alien that worked with T.K.O.? They thought T.K.O. was him? Dendy needed to get to the bottom of this. As T.K.O. walked away, Dendy made a beeline towards him and cut him off. "Hello T.K.O.," Dendy greeted, causing T.K.O. to turn slightly.

"Oh, thank Cob." T.K.O. sighed. "Everyone thinks I'm Rad! Except Enid, and you now, I guess."

"Everyone? Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, I bet if I go outside, people will know better."

"Why do they believe that you are Radicles?"

"Well, Rad gave me his nametag today, because mine…" T.K.O. cringed before closing one eye and giving Dendy a nervous smile. "I-I lost mine."

"Oh. Do you usually lose your things?"

"Nah, I just…I've had a bit of an off day, y'know? School really kicked my butt today."

"But Ms. Quantum was her usual nice self. You didn't have to deal with Principal Krampus did you?"

"Nah, I just was distracted today." T.K.O. avoided Dendy's eyes as they began to walk by different establishments.

A tiger motioned T.K.O. to come over shouting: "Rad! I got those special calendars for you!" T.K.O. walked over and was secretly passed a calendar in a bag. Dendy and T.K.O. looked in to see a kitten a day calendar.

"What? But Rad said: 'The only animals I care about are sharks and bees.'" T.K.O. remembered before looking back at the bag. His eyes seemed to sparkle before the two began to head back to Gar's bodega.

As they walked, T.K.O. saw an elderly woman walk by who waved to them as she carried groceries from Gar's. "Rad, hope to see you at yoga again this week!" She told him.

"Rad doesn't like yoga." T.K.O. whispered to Dendy. "He told me, 'yoga strengthens your core, but core's nothing when you've got guns.'"

Dendy pocketed these little info nuggets away in her brain. She supposed she could start looking at Rad's daily routine when she is done finding T.K.O.'s. Or she could just look at Rad. Maybe find out more about him. See how he learns how to build up those muscles. She was in her own daydream until T.K.O. was tackled by a gaggle of children and a mother thanked Rad for babysitting her kids.

"It's so strange for someone with a level -2 power level to do all these little things.

"It's almost like he's wanting to be a hero." T.K.O. whispered softly, only enough for Dendy to hear. But it wasn't of disbelief, it was awe. A small but genuine smile graced the child's face, and Dendy thought of asking him a question, but decided to save it until later.

The two went into Gar's bodega. "Oh, have you started on your homework yet T.K.O.? Dendy reminded."

"Ack! No! I haven't! But I've got work to do!"

"That is alright T.K.O., I haven't either. When I'm done, I'll be sure to get you and we can go over it together.'

"Thanks Dendy." T.K.O. said, his teeth sort of showing as he pulled up a weak smirk. He struggled. A lot. Even to the point where he tested Ms. Quantum's patience, and usually when it came to him, he was sent with the other troublemakers to Principal Krampus's room. However, Rad came bursting into the store, shouting for his name tag. "Oh, hey Rad." T.K.O. greeted as Enid rolled her eyes.

"Wait…" Rad stamped over to the 6-11 year olds. "You have my name tag." He pointed to T.K.O. "Identity thief!"

"What?" T.K.O. looked at Rad as if he was crazy.

"You heard me, you're an identity thief! You stole my name tag!"

"Rad, you gave the name tag to me this…"

Dendy drowned out the rest of the words. She was enamoured by the way he was built. Oh yes. He would _have_ to be her next experiment.

Somehow, it turned into a competition of a Rad-off, which has happened 9 times annually from how the announcer talked about it. The reason that they needed to do it was to prove there was only one true Rad.

"Hallelujah." Enid and Dendy said together. Enid said it sarcastically while Dendy was practically swooning. The two girls decided that Dendy had gotten her first crush, which, shouldn't last due to Dendy not really liking emotional bonds. Most likely she'd study him and then the infatuation on him would wear off, even if he was an attractive build in Dendy's eyes.

The first feat was a belching competition, which Rad was able to burp and set a line of cars on fire, but T.K.O. won because his burp was faster made than Rad's, much to the chagrin of T.K.O. All he wanted was to have a name tag, not to get into a competition with Rad!

The second feat was lifting crates, which again, T.K.O. won because he didn't use his powers. T.K.O. made a playful jab to Rad stating that he might be the real Rad after all, but the real Rad warned him to not get cocky.

The third feat was a rapping contest. "Enid! Give me a beat!" Rad ordered.

"No." Enid said plainly.

"Ugh. DJ Fireball, can ya give me a beat."

Enid smirked. "Heck yeah!" She said, turning into a much more casual wear. No longer did she look like a witch, but her hair was pulled up into pigtails and orange tinted sunglasses as she wore a t-shirt and shorts. She hit the counter, flipping it into a DJ set and began to play a sick beat.

Rad nodded. "Yeah, I can work with that. All right, imposter, get ready, 'cause this ends here." He smirked before beginning to rap. "Ohh, I'm the extraterrestrial, emphasis on extra. My skin is blue because I come from Planet X, bruh. If you step on this, you gonna get creamed. If you outta line, you gonna get laser beamed. Arms ripped, afro poofy. Ears tipped, you goofy. Liftin' and pumpin' and crushin' the weights. Don't be surprised when I thrash you. Movin' and settin' and stackin' the crates." He demonstrated his power "And you ain't nothin' but trash, do." T.K.O. let out a shout before being flung into a crate marked "trash" "You lookin' foolish. You ain't the real me. I am the true Rad. I know you feel me. He is Radicles. Ain't nobody ever wanna mess with me. I said he is Radicles. I ain't got time for no identity thief." With that, he dropped the mic.

"Hey, be careful with my equipment!" DJ Fireball barked.

"Tch, whatever." Rad growled, but picked it up.

T.K.O. growled as he pulled himself out of the crate. He may have wanted Rad to win, but now. Well, the harsh black that entered T.K.O.'s eyes made him seem, not quite himself. He picked up a disc and slammed it on DJ Fireball's equipment. "Play it." T.K.O. growled in a seemingly less intimidating voice, but with such seriousness that it sent shivers down the audience's spines.

"Jeez." DJ Fireball glared. "Sorry for defending you." She said as she played the disc.

T.K.O. smirked as he brought out a notepad and began to read it over as he started to rap. "Well, I'm Radicles and I'm here to say. I learned a lot about myself today. I'm a yoga guy with a yoga mat. Don't believe it, ask the kids I babysat. Sharks and bees ain't where it's at. I rather snuggle up with a kitty cat. I like to burp and I like to toot.

"But deep inside, I'm really cute. " And the entire time, T.K.O. had this smile on his face that seemed so malicious. Like he took pride in making Rad feel this way. Rad seemed to turn red as T.K.O. went on and the crowd began to laugh, with no signs of stopping. Was this the T.K.O. that Dendy didn't know? The T.K.O. that was prominent at the bodega? No. This was his facade.

The T.K.O. she knew would not do this. Rad snatched the mic from him and the malicious black began to fade from T.K.O.'s eyes. "Listen, imposter. I don't babysit or do yoga, and I definitely don't like snuggling kittens."

T.K.O. looked down for a moment searching himself. "I don't understand. That all seems like cool stuff to me." He whispered.

"But Rad would never find that stuff cool. And even if he did, Rad wouldn't be ready to share those things about himself. If you really were Rad, you'd know that."

T.K.O. looked to Rad with wide eyes before tightening his jaw. "Oh. Gah! You got me! All that stuff I rapped about was lies. I was, uh, trying to embarrass you. Yeah. Isn't that what rapping battles are all about?" He shrugged.

"I guess. Uh, yeah! Yeah, you're right!"

"Well, I guess my little plan didn't work. You're the real Rad—tough, cool, and totally one-dimensional." T.K.O. then passed rad his nametag and lost himself in the crowd quickly.

The record scratched as Enid gave a bored look. "All right. Everybody out."

The crowd shifted out, satisfied and Rad found T.K.O. mopping. "T.K.O., when did you get here?" He asked.

"Saw you thrash that Rad imposter." T.K.O. smiled. "You were so cool! He never stood a chance!"

"Hah! I know! There's only one real Rad after all!"

"Welp, I need to go on break now. Homework and all that."

"Hah! When you get back, Enid and I will rap so more for ya!"

"No I won't." Enid called.

"Well, then I'll do some acoustic rapping!" Rad declared.

* * *

T.K.O. and Dendy worked in silence before Dendy finally found her voice. "T.K.O., I've noticed something about you."

"Whassat?"

"I…You don't want to be a villain, do you?"

T.K.O. flinched, breaking the pencil in his hand. He seemed frozen.

"You-you don't have to-"

"Yeah. I don't want to be a villain."

Dendy blinked a few times. "Oh, I didn't realize you'd…be so open with me."

"You were gonna find out eventually. You're Ms. Quantum's golden student. It was bound to happen."

"So, you-"

"I wanna be a hero." T.K.O. nodded.

Dendy looked down at the floor. "I-"

But at the same time, T.K.O. spoke. Dendy let him go ahead. "I've just… had this question for so long… would I wake up and be able to tell my dad? Would I be able to wear a mask? Regardless, I want to be one…I love reading about P.O.I.N.T., when Mr. Gar and my dad and…and my mom worked there…An entire life-job -to help people. _Other_ people. Who wouldn't want that kind of life?"

Dendy took that as a rhetorical question. She rested her hand on T.K.O.'s wrist that had the broken pencil. T.K.O. looked to her with surprise, before his gaze softened. "T.K.O.," Dendy began, "I know that we're friends, so I want to help you. And, maybe we can…help each other."

T.K.O. smiled at his friend before hugging her with relief.


	7. Strength of a Rock

Dendy called T.K.O., relaxing on her stomach and preparing for her hour conversation with him. He was pretty much all that she ever talked about now, along with her science and school. Her parents were glad that she found a friend.

T.K.O. took a while to pick up, but he sounded sore and quiet. "Hey Dendy." His whispery voice made Dendy feel goosebumps on her arms.

"Hi T.K.O., how was today?"

"Eh, problematic." He groaned.

"Oh, what happened?"

"So, I was, uh…talkin' to my dad, wanting to know if I would get a growth spurt soon. And he said… 'No. You'll have to wait until you're older.' Then I asked if my mom was tall and he told me to look it up."

"Wait, did he not like your mother?"

"No! He loved her, he just…he…" There was a long pause. "It's kinda a sore spot for our family." T.K.O. said finally.

"Oh, so-"

"So I go into work, and I'm complaining that I can't reach the top shelf because I had to get rid of the expired junk and Rad threw me some green candy that was supposed to make me bigger."

"You took performance enhancements?" Dendy asked dryly.

"Well-" T.K.O. paused before sighing. "Yeah, but it was candy!"

"What was the shape?"

"It was like a mento in green wrapping, okay?"

"Alright."

"Can I keep telling my story?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so I eat a piece and I grow to the size of Rad. And that's super great! And I was able to do my job. But, the candy was pretty good and-"

"You ate more."

"Yeah… so I some more and they had a delayed reaction, but then I grew to a size where I broke the bodega roof."

Dendy snickered.

"Hey!" T.K.O. hissed, turning red.

"Sorry, did you bump your head?" She asked. She did enjoy physical comedy.

"No I just broke the roof." He growled. "And when I did that, my uncle didn't really like that."

"Your uncle?"

"Laserblast and Doc. Venomous are brothers." T.K.O. explained.

"What? That's so weird!" Dendy said.

"Nah. Uncle Venomous usually takes care of me when it's summer."

"But they don't even look alike!"

"Yeah, Uncle Venomous was in the same experiments as Pird and Boxman. Only my uncle became a were-snake." T.K.O. told her. "Anyways, I grew and I broke the ceiling and, of course, everyone noticed. My uncle did _not_ like having to deal with that."

"So what happened?"

"He sternly talked to me about the damage that I did because I was greedy and explained everything to me until I shrunk down in shame."

"Are you sure it wasn't the candy wearing off?"

"Maybe, but my uncle told me he'd dock my overall pay because of the damage I did until I pay him back. And then my dad reassured Uncle Venomous that he'd…discipline me."

"Oh dear."

"Yeah, I guess that means I can't get that many POW Cards right now." He snickered and Dendy let out a small giggle of her own.

The two continued to talk to each other, with Dendy describing her day with her family and also talking about how she found a creature to observe. She didn't say who, so T.K.O. assumed it was an animal species that lived in the swampy area that Dendy lived in.


	8. Her Weakness

**I feel like this could belong in "Sweet as Candy."**

* * *

Dendy laid on her stomach as she and TKO talked, just like every night. "So, who is Joe Cuppa?"

"He's a comedian that Rad likes. He works on a lot of puns."

"Puns?"

"Yeah, they're like a play on words. Like this one: How do you greet a snowman?"

"You don't. They're inanimate objects."

"No, you need to say: 'I don't know, how _do_ you greet a snowman?'"

"Oh."

"So I'll start again. How do you greet a snowman?"

"I don't know, how _do_ you greet a snowman?"

"Say, 'Ice to meet you!'" He laughed on the other end, then cut himself off. "D-do you get it?"

"No. I don't"

"Okay, so like instead of saying nice, you say 'ice,'"

"Oh…" she giggled a bit, as she finally got the joke.

"Yeah, and this one's a coffee one: I like you a whole 'latte'."

"Latte?"

"Instead of 'a whole lot,' it's 'a whole latte!'"

"I see…" she giggled while blushing. Both unaware of the implications.

"You mocha me very happy." TKO smiled.

"Is that like…'you make me very happy'?"

"Yeah!"

"Haha! I get it!"

"Dendy…I-I'm gonna have to let you go. Talk to you tomorrow!"

"Talk to you-" *click* Dendy stared at the phone, sleep not coming to her as he suddenly hung up.


End file.
